Friday, March 18, 2011

PORT TOWNSEND

If you like history, Victorian architecture, spectacular water views as well as large old forts. This is the place for you. We went to Port Townsend today. It’s my fourth visit and I would love to go once a month, if possible.

Fort Wordon is famous as the movie set for An Officer and A Gentleman. If you are familiar with the movie many places will be familiar. This weekend is heritage days and there were many people walking around in Victorian dress. A lady got on our bus to take us on a guided tour and she was dressed perfectly. I loved getting more of the history.

I confess I had little interest in history while in high school and college. But for some reason, unknown to me, I now have this great fascination about the past. In particular England, Canada and the USA. Port Townsend has it.

In the late 1800’s it rivaled San Francisco as the busiest deep harbor port on the west coast. There was plenty of lumber to repair the tall wooden ships and there was plenty of talented labor to do the repairs. Resources may it the perfect place for a stop. Industry was plentiful which allowed for a great deal of trade. The area is rich with produce, fruits, fish and meat from bears, elk, deer and others. It was perfect. After the cross country railroad reached San Francisco there were plans for a northern spur. Since Port Townsend was the most sensible terminal point, everyone expected it to end there. But it stopped in Tacoma. At the same time more and more ships were coming under steam. The lumber of this northern point was less important so ships bypassed Port Townsend and went right down Puget Sound. The tall ships could not make the trip. The area was not wide enough to tack from side to side. Port Townsend faded into a small town with hundreds of empty storefronts.

The movie and cheap land turned the tide in the 70-80’s when the population grew again and Port Townsend became the quaint town it is today. We had a wonderful time. My favorite place to eat is “Nifty 50’s”. It looks like a 50’s Soda Shoppe with the black and white tile floor, turquoise table tops, swivel stools are the counter, jukeboxes at the booths, and the greatest ice cream concoctions I have had since the 50’s. It’s not the lowest price place in town, but it is one of the more economical places in old town.

I may sneak up there on my own on a sunny day to take photos of more of the buildings. The detail is wonderful. I had always wondered why none of the downtown buildings had any of those wonderful old Victorian rooflines. Most were removed in the 50’s to modernize them and be replaced with flat roofs. To be fair, the roofs were rotting and often a story or two were also removed because of rot. It was still interesting to me that each roofline looks finished.

It if visit, pick a bed and breakfast for you overnight stay. They are all Victorian homes and very beautiful.

I called my daughter when I got home to arrange for the day I would go and make supper for her husband’s birthday. We have set it for Monday. I had been praying she would have a good day at work. She did. No problems, no complaining, no negativity. I told her it sounds like “The Home.” We have our good days and then we have the others. I have more to write about on the other days.

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